Unknown
by SirronRocks
Summary: Set in TLO, Battle for Manhattan. Haunted by his past, one of Kronos's corrupted demigods finds himself with a lot of choices to make; some concerning his parentage, some concerning his well being, some concerning the fate of the war.
1. Chapter 1

_"Oh, gods." Annabeth muttered, looking at Percy.  
__"I remember him. He used to go to camp."_

_Percy stared at the unconscious demigod beneath them and gave a confused glance in Annabeth's direction.  
__"Why'd you say 'oh, gods' Annabeth? He's not exactly the first…demigod that's gone over and joined Kronos."_

_Annabeth knelt down and re-dressed the demigod's bandages covering his stab wounds; deep sword slashes covered his chest and abdominals.  
__"Yes Percy, I know, but it's not everyday that a demigod with an English accent somehow makes it to camp. He was carrying a satyr in his arms, and both of them were badly wounded. The satyr later died from his injuries. I didn't even know that the gods went to other countries and had children."_

_Percy's fingers stroked his personal Achilles heel; he had taken to doing so when he was thinking.  
__"He put up one hell of a fight on the bridge. I've never seen a demigod do that before."_

_Annabeth frowned and winced shortly afterwards; the ambrosia and nectar was starting to wear off.  
"I don't know who his godly parent is, as he always claimed he was an orphan. He was unclaimed by his parent, and obviously spent a lot of time in the Hermes cabin. You would have met him, come to think of it. But that was years ago. He would now know who his parent is, and we need to figure out which god or goddess..."_

_Percy's eyes widened and he interrupted Annabeth mid-sentence.  
"So why did you say 'Oh gods?' when you saw him? The Apollo campers dragged him out of the rubble earlier."_

_Annabeth looked at her feet, and mumbled her reply.  
__"You know when Luke left you with that scorpion? When he fled camp? Josh went with him. Josh was the original traitor. Damn it! I should have noticed them two, always training together and always looking like they had a plan for this and a plan for that. I feel like such a fool! Gods, I should have realized he'd be here, that he'd come and fight. I just hope he'll be nice enough to talk for us, otherwise we might as well send him back over to Kronos."_

_Percy looked down at the blonde, sleeping demigod and gritted his teeth. What was he to do?_

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**AN: So this marks the start of my second story on fanfiction. This is set in the battle for manhattan, and will revolve around my character (Josh, the sleeping blonde dude) and his choices in the titan war. This is mainly a little spoiler-thingy, and the story will start properly in the next chapter. Please, I'd love your thoughts, so review and give it a follow/faviourite if it interests you :)! **


	2. The Bridge

**Author's note: sorry for the wait, but I think you'll find it's worth it! ;D  
Rick Riordan owns everything except Josh. And the plot variations. **

**Have fun! please read and review, many thanks, Gods be with you!  
**

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My horse whinnied as we sat in formation. I was to the left of Kronos, with Ethan on his right and the rest of the demigods were mounted to the rear of us. Kronos was sat confidently, staring at the battleground ahead of us.

The Williamsburg Bridge was a scene of pure violence. Monsters roared and were concentrated on one demigod, 'Percy Jackson'. I'd heard about him from Ethan and Luke, and to be honest with you he didn't look impressive. I wasn't impressed until he deflected a dracanae's spear with his stomach.

The spearhead flattened and the shaft shattered with an audible snap. He then somehow managed to dodge an entire arrow volley from a squadron of Telekines. He kept everyone's attention while several campers shot at the monsters with their bows. Judging by the precision of their shots, they were Apollo campers. This would be fun.

Seeing all the campers, with their orange shirts on underneath their battle armour, made me reminisce of the short time I had spent there. I remember the day I fled Camp Half-Blood. I remember Luke telling me that I'd be making a difference; that I'd be making things better for the minor gods and their children.

To my shame, he'd been telling me all these plans for Kronos to take over, but I had never taken him seriously until he had attacked Percy Jackson with that scorpion, grabbed me and ran.

The monsters turned and fled, obviously being destroyed by the cunning strategy of the campers. They fled behind our mounted formation, and Kronos gave the order to advance.  
Our target was the almost-invincible Percy Jackson, and by the gods he put up a fight. Kronos had myself and Ethan halt, and the three of us stopped while the rest of the demigods charged. The first few to reach Percy immediately had their skeletal horses sliced from under them, and they ended up face down on the road. The rest hastily dismounted and advanced on foot, each dying to get the kill and be awarded for their tenacity. A few campers had run up to support Percy, and they did well in holding their ground. Kronos smirked, and dismounted.  
"Josh, Ethan, I want the two of you to eliminate them. If needs be, I'll take Jackson. Ethan, until I step in, try to pinpoint Jackson's weak point. Josh...kill anyone who gets in Ethan's way."

Me and Ethan dismounted and strode confidently towards the battleground; I was aware of Ethan's skills and he knew mine. Although we detested each other in person, when it came to a fight we were as if we'd been training together for thousands of years.

A couple of campers broke away from the fight and ran over to meet us. Ethan venomously plunged his knife into a male camper's stomach, and the second camper screamed. She fitted an arrow to her bow and sent it whistling towards me.  
My instincts kicked in and I swung my shield up to meet the arrow. In one swift movement, I knocked the arrow away and threw my circular shield/buckler at the girl. The celestial bronze shield sliced her chin open and knocked her to the floor. Captain America would have been proud of that throw. He wouldn't have been proud of its results.

Me and Ethan strode over the bodies; his face a look of contempt, my face a mask of calm. My brain was screaming in guilt and rage at me, but my body carried on moving. My mouth even _smirked_.

We reached the fray and immediately set to work. Ethan was ducking and dodging, trying to pinpoint Percy Jackson's weak spot. I was using my height to my advantage, holding one particularly short Apollo camper away with my right hand and duelling another with the standard-issue celestial bronze sword in my left hand. I kicked the legs from under the guy with the sword and swung my blade round to challenge the midget.

I figured I would be able to deal with him fairly easily, but the small, ferret-faced camper sprang up and kicked my sword out of my hands. I lashed out with my fists, trying to score a hit on his pointy nose, but he was too small and too fast. He easily dodged my slow punches, kicked my legs from under me and sprinted away, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

I spun round to see Ethan lunge his dagger towards the small of Percy's back. Before it reached it's target, however, a blonde demigod threw herself in the way. Ethan's knife sank inside her, and she slumped to the floor. Percy kicked away another one of Kronos's demigods and smashed Ethan in the face with the hilt of his celestial bronze sword, denting the purple-plumed helmet.

Percy whistled, and before I could reach him a midnight-black pegasus swooped down, hitting me in the chest with one of it's galloping legs. I somehow managed to bite my tongue while falling and the taste of blood flooded my mouth. I rolled over and started spitting the blood away, whilst the pegasus was flying away, the blonde on it's back.

I stood up just in time to get knocked flying backwards (again) by what felt like the entire bridge being split in half.  
When my vision returned the image that greeted me was...astounding.

I don't know what those campers did, but somehow the Williamsburg bridge had a huge, gaping crack down the middle. Percy was with his campers on the other side, whilst myself and the rest of the army were recovering on the opposite. I staggered to my feet and marched sourly back to the left hand side of Kronos. Ethan stood on the right, and Kronos sighed.

"Boys, you failed me. As a result, one of you will be...punished. But who to choose?"  
Me and Ethan looked at each other with a potent mix of pity and venom.  
Kronos laughed, and it was an insane chuckle full of madness and disturbing pleasure.  
"You can't decide? Then I will. Joshua. You must cross the bridge and kill every last demigod there. Don't come back."

Inside my head I was absolutely reeling. Why me? I'm a much better strategist and warrior then Ethan! Kronos seemed to read my emotions and answered my questions, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Joshua, I picked you because you are...were Luke's favourite. I have to show the troops that this is me in charge, not him, and they know he'd choose you. Sorry for your loss."  
The Lord of Time rounded it off with a laugh and raised his scythe in Percy Jackson's direction.  
I sprinted towards the gap in the bridge, fuelling my one controllable power. I poured energy into the small of my back, planning to utilise my mother's biological power. As I started to run out of bridge to run on, a set of huge silver wings spouted from my back and allowed me to glide over the edge of the bridge. I landed with a forward roll, and my wings disappeared with a slight 'pop', leaving me kneeling on the camper's side of the bridge.

I looked up and saw the glowing blade of Percy's sword hovering at my neck, as if it were about to pounce and behead me. I could make out some ancient Greek writing on his blade, but before I could read it my brain translated it to English, and I learnt that the blade was called Riptide.

"Surrender and we won't hurt you."

The son of Poseidon had said, with a faint smirk on his face. I couldn't help but wonder whether he remembered me.

I stared back into those vivid green eyes, and winked.

In one swift movement I head-butted Riptide out of Percy's hands, flipped myself upright and kicked him square-on in the chest. The demigod staggered backwards, his eyes following his blade as it fell to the floor. I then ripped my standard-issue celestial bronze sword out of its hilt and launched a barrage of attack on Percy.

I didn't expect to hit him, and I wasn't disappointed. Every slice or stab he seemed to magically dodge or block and before long he had retrieved Riptide and was engaging me in a fierce riposte.

Percy was blatantly the better swordsman, and as we duelled he was forcing me towards the left side of the bridge. It wasn't fair that he had the so-called 'curse of Achilles', and that my mother's gift hadn't kicked in yet. As we reached the edge of the bridge, he hit my sword out of my hands with a well-practised disarming manoeuvre, and I watched my blade fall into the water.

Percy then ripped my helmet off and punched me twice; big heavy lashes across my face.

"Who are you?!" roared the green-eyed demigod, with a look of distaste seeping from his eyes.

"It's not surprising that you don't remember me…we shared a bunk back at camp."

"You!"

"Yes Percy, it's me. Josh, in case you've forgotten my name too."

"But why are you fighting us?"

"I..uh…it doesn't matter. Just let me kill you and my mother will finally get the respect she deserves!"

"Josh! You don't have to do this!"

"Percy, I have no choice. I have to do this, or Kronos will kill me."

My voice broke on the final words, and a tear dripped down my cheek. As Percy lowered his sword and put one hand on my shoulder, I kicked his legs from under him, clattering the son of Poseidon to the floor.

Percy rolled backwards and flipped himself upright; he showed far more athletic prowess now that he had bathed in the Styx. He walked slowly, confidently towards me, while I adopted a fighting stance and clenched my fists in anticipation. As Percy advanced, I yanked my leather riding gloves off of my bruised hands and smashed my left palm down on the jewelled ring that adorned my right hand.

The silver ring expanded and grew leather straps over the top of the silver band, which was now the same size as the hilt of a sword. On the butt of the hilt lay a purple amethyst, the same colour as my eyes. As I raised it towards the determined demigod, he hit it out my hands with a simple disarming manoeuvre and my blade fell into the river.

He turned confidently, thinking I would follow. I lunged towards him, attempting to grab Riptide out of his hands. Instinctively he spun round and plunged his blade into my abdomen. Ouch. He looked me in the eyes with venom, and kicked my staggered body into the river.

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**What did you think? :D **


	3. Meeting my future stepfather

A choice

My eyes snapped open, and it took me a second to focus. I was facedown on a concrete pathway. Surrounding me was a pool of both blood and water. Water from the river, blood from the gaping hole in my abdomen. Not a pretty sight, I assure you. The thing that concerned me most, however, was that I couldn't feel a thing of my injuries. I mean, I was clearly in a grave condition, but for the life of me I couldn't feel it. I had the strength to lift myself from the concrete and stagger into Manhattan.

It was now about 6pm, judging by the position of the sun, and I realised I didn't have long until sundown. I was trying not to look at my injury out of fear I may throw up; it is not everyday you find a hole leading to your…innards. My mind kept drifting back to the fight on the bridge; how was I able to hit Percy? My sword slashes shouldn't have touched him, as he has the curse of Achilles upon him… Maybe it had something to do with my parentage. Oh yeah, I probably didn't tell you guys, but I am the son of Nike, the Victory Goddess.

Sounds awesome right? It's really not. You'd imagine that Nike is some kick-ass woman who beats up Titans and eats hellhounds for breakfast. In fact, she's a psychotic fool who constantly shifts personality and allegiance. To top it all off, she's absurdly powerful. Obviously, this power is passed down to me, but seeing as she's so powerful, the 'soul' doesn't take hold properly and I get practically none of the more… unnatural powers. I am at the peak of demigod fitness, and win most of my fights through a combination of skill and luck. I have outbursts of power, but we'll get to that later.

I had managed to limp through the streets of Manhattan, one hand clutching the stab wound on my stomach and the other hand was using a metal pole (debris from the bridge) as a staff to lean on. Every step made me wince, as it was uncomfortable, and my face was a mass of cuts and bruises. I was bleeding badly from the sword wound, and I tried my best not to think about it.

I eventually found a nice hotel to shack up in for the night without falling over and dying, but one thing that really freaked me out was the sleeping mortals. All around me were men, women, children, and even sleeping dogs! But the worse thing was, I had to pull the sleeping people out of doorways, as they had collapsed there and obviously weren't able to move. It was a painful task, seeing as I was bleeding out and well, yeah. Blood was everywhere.

I eventually settled for the night, having dragged a mattress and quilt down from one of the rooms and into the lobby; I wanted a quick, easy route of escape. My armour was laid out on a table, and I was in what I wore underneath it; a white polo shirt and a pair of red chinos. Doesn't sound the comfiest of outfits, but I had personally made adjustments to my trousers, making them have the appearance of chinos but the ease and comfort of jogging trousers.

The startling sound of metal hitting the floor intercepted my wandering thoughts, and I spun round immediately.

I jumped out of my skin when I saw a tall, smiling man in a tuxedo sat on the chair next to the table where my armour lay. He looked friendly enough, but I knew who he was. I knew him. I knew he only cared for himself.

"Ah, the last true hoplite. It's been a while, hasn't it? What are you calling yourself now? Joshua? I'm sorry I didn't visit you sooner; I've been busy helping Kronos with his army. Wonderful warrior, but he sucks when it comes to battle tactics. That's why I'm here."

After saying that, he stood up with his hand out, as if he wanted a handshake.  
"Prometheus. I hardly understood a word you said, but how are the scars?"  
Prometheus's face soured, and he pushed the second of my steel boots to the floor, from the table. He had pushed the other off to get my attention.  
"Don't mention the vultures again, unless you want it to happen to you if Kronos takes over."  
I raised an eyebrow curiously.  
"Prometheus, why do you say 'if' Kronos wins? Do you not believe he will? I'd think someone of your...level of foresight would only commit if they were sure they'd win."  
"Josh. Stop talking now. Just be aware that I have a plan, and you are part of it. Do as I ask, and things will work out for the best."  
"Best for who?"  
"All of us."

A silence followed that (rather dramatic) statement, and I decided to make the awkward moment pass quickly rather then slowly.

"Why are you here, Prometheus?"

"To ensure that you survive, of course. Who do you think gave you the strength to get here? Who do you think dragged you from the water? Who do you think attends to your mother, stopping her from taking part in combat herself?"

"My mum… you're doing this for her?"

"In part."

"You…you fancy my mum, don't you?!"

My head was a mixture of emotion; both disgust and happiness flooded my mind. I was disgusted that he wanted to romance my mum, but I was amazed that someone would care and look after my mother.

"I..I…yes, Josh, I do seek the hand of your mother. Ever since she joined the war effort, I've been smitten with her and her purple eyes."

My mouth was open and I looked like an idiot; I had been stood there not being able to comprehend the influx of information that streamed right into my head. Prometheus looked at his feet, pretending to be waiting for a response but I knew he was reading my mind; he had a habit of that.

For whatever reason, anger flooded my veins and I suddenly turned aggressive against the titan. Who was he to romance my mother? She deserved better then this schemer, trickster, liar! I swung my hand out, in a meek attempt to backhand Prometheus, but his gift of forethought meant he had anticipated my movement and he swiftly caught my arm, folding it into a painful arm-lock.

"I'm only doing what is best. Stay out of it, Joshua. You are a pawn in the games of gods."

"I am alive! I have a voice! I can, and will have my say in things!"

With my defiant outburst I spun round on the arm he held me by, kicking him in the face, and dove for the emergency supplies I had scavenged from the hotel bar earlier. I rummaged through the metal tin, and found what I was looking for.

When Prometheus had turned around, I pointed a small, red and ridiculous looking flare gun at his face.

"Move." My teenage voice spoke strong, and he stepped aside. "I will fire this and alert everyone to your presence if you don't leave, right now."

Prometheus gasped, but quickly covered it with a sly smirk.

"Do it. I'll let you feel the pain I've been holding back from your wound if you do."

I scrunched my face up with confused, defiant rage and fired my flare gun. A bright red firework shot out of the gun, swung past Prometheus's face and flew out the open door, lighting the night sky with it's blaring red glow. Prometheus snarled at me, and clenched his fist. I immediately felt a wave of agony ripple through me, and I succumbed to the darkness.


	4. Blood, Stretchers and Dracanae

**Author's Note: This chapter was contributed to me by a good friend of mine, "PurpleNinja97". It's from the point of view of her character, Jess Marsh, but continues the story well. I hope you enjoy, please give me/her some feedback! It'd mean a lot. **

**Many Thanks,  
Josh**

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Jess' POV  
I always enjoyed training back at camp. It was a great way to exercise my anger, something which is a lesser known side effect of being a daughter of Athena. People have a tendency to forget the whole 'Goddess of Battle Strategy' thing in lieu of wisdom and owls.

But what you don't realise back at camp is that, no matter how much you train, you can never be truly prepared for the actual thing.

When we had marched into Manhattan I had been pretty pumped, this was it! I was actually going to do something, something important! No more, go fetch the spare armour Jess, go take this to Chiron Jess, no more messenger girl. I am a daughter of Athena, not of Hermes, dear Gods! Needless to say that feeling deteriorated quickly when I got dumped on healing duty with the Apollo's, some rubbish about odd numbers and me having been in St John Ambulance training as a kid.

Peace can never last in battle though. As our band of healers was setting up base we were ambushed by about twenty of Kronos' little minions and now we were in the midst of battle, sword clashes ringing out amidst the occasional scream of pain and my heart thumping in my ears so loudly I was sure the smirking demigod across from me could hear it.

He was easily half a foot taller than me, which was saying something considering I'm a good 5'8, and was looking at me as if I were something particularly nasty he couldn't wait to squish. I clenched my fist around the hilt of my sword, so tightly it pained me, grounding myself in the battle. His eyes twitched upwards minutely, aiming a glance at my left shoulder. A give away. Excellent.

He swung his sword at me but my own was there, blocking it before he had even come close to making contact. Pressing down I parried his blow and twisted my blade so that his was flung from his grasp, leaving him defenceless. Instinct kicked in and I had gutted him before I even really knew what I was doing.

Horror filled me as I pulled the blade from his stomach, dripping in blood, and the light slowly left his eyes. I couldn't look away. It was as if everything was moving in slow motion as he fell like a ragdoll to slump on the floor, limbs sprawled out at impossible angles. What had I done?

So far in the battle I had managed to avoid killing, deflecting blows and marching onwards, leaving them injured and out of action but never dead.

I had never killed a person before.

It was then that Will Solace grabbed me by the arm and yanked me out of my daze.  
"Head in the game Marsh!" He yelled over the fray, "Emotional breakdowns later!" He sounded harsh but he looked empathetic and I glanced behind him to see yet another corpse. I looked back up at him and he nodded grimly, confirming it. 'Right, ok, head in the game, I can do that' I thought, 'this isn't real, this is capture the flag. Except the flag is an almighty titan… and the losing penalty is death.

I totally can't do this.'

Wavering for a second I steeled myself and turned back to the battle.

It was a good half an hour later when the offending demigods retreated, leaving team Sunshine and me to recuperate. Will was Iris messaging someone from another battalion, likely giving a status report. I slumped against a building, trying to avoid looking at the bloodstains on the floor to my right, instead opting to gaze at the sky.

Perhaps this was why I really got stuck on healing duty. Did I give off some sort of 'rubbish fighter' vibe or something? Could you somehow tell that when it came to the real deal I would have nothing, be useless? Exhaling, I blew a strand of blonde hair out of my face and let my head thud against the wall. Useless.

It was when my shoulders sagged and I lifted myself from my wall of self-pity that the explosion rang out. Jerking my head up I watched in astonishment as the window of a nearby hotel lit up a brilliant red. Glancing wildly I locked eyes with Will and stood up.  
"I'll go." I told him, "They'll need you here." He nodded and signalled three of his siblings to follow me, Jessica, David and some other kid I didn't know. The four of us took off at a jog towards the site of the explosion.

The hotel was a nice enough place but the sleeping people in the lobby were creepy and I studiously avoided looking at them. 'Eyes on the prize Marsh' I reminded myself as we stormed up to the room. I wasn't hard to find, the door had been blown right off of its hinges and lay flat in the hall. I was about to enter when David pulled me back and shook his head, unsheathing his sword and going ahead. We copied him and tiptoed into the room.

I'm not sure what we expected, but it was certainly not this. In the middle of the room was a tall blonde boy who looked to be about my age, collapsed on the floor with a flare gun in his hands. I could have sworn I saw a swirl of black in the corner but it was gone before I could fully comprehend it and instead I found myself distracted with his injuries.

I haven't got that much experience in medicine, despite the St John Ambulance thing and reading a lot of books, but even I could tell this was bad and even if I couldn't, the half gasp, half sob from Jessica would have been a dead giveaway.

His stomach was torn open by what could only have been a sword and he was soaking wet, shivering even in his unconscious state. Looking at the scorch marks on his clothes though, it was likely that being wet had saved his life. His face was covered in scratches and his foot was bent at an angle that turned my stomach. The blood though, oh I hate blood, and it was pooled all around him, coating his clothes and arms where he had unknowingly rolled in it, the strong metallic stench filling the air. I turned around to the corridor and vomited, continuing to retch even after my stomach was empty. The Apollo's had sprung into action immediately, pouring nectar on the wounds and tearing the covers off of the bed to act as bandages, ripping them into strips with an expert hand. 'Useless', my mind whispered again, 'You're useless.'

Gritting my teeth I steeled my nerves and tried to breathe through my mouth, eying a nearby closet. I pulled it down to lay flat on the floor and, taking out my sword, roughly ripped out the nails to leave a long, thick board of wood.  
"This ought to work as a stretcher" I muttered and Jessica nodded to indicate she had heard me. Wandering outside to the hall, I sat so I was away from the blood and could keep a lookout. 'I'd probably be more of a hindrance than a help anyway' I thought bitterly, picking at the carpet with my sword.

It was ten minutes later that I heard David calling me in. They had positioned the boy on my makeshift stretcher and his brother was positioned to help him lift it up. Jess was in the corner Iris messaging Will.  
"Keep an eye out Jess yeah?" He asked, glancing around nervously "I don't doubt that that explosion attracted more than just us"

I hadn't really considered that actually, and I wandered over to glance out of the window. Five empousae were assembled one the sidewalk outside the hotel. 'Ah, something I can enjoy' I smirked. I was never fond of empousae. In fact, they were what had attacked me and forced my demigod heritage into action, only after making my life hell for six months though of course, damn wannabe cheerleaders. 'Oh yes. Definitely up for this.'

Smirk firmly locked, I stormed out of the hotel, sword glinting in the sunlight as I brought it down on one of their heads. 'Not so useless after all!'


End file.
